About The Macallan 18 Year Old Sherry Oak 2020 Release

As a result of a meticulous distilling process and insistence on only the finest ingredients as well as almost two decades spent in hand-picked sherry seasoned oak casks from Jerez, The Macallan 18 Year Old Sherry Oak Single Malt Scotch Whisky delights with an unparalleled depth and complexity. Delivering aromas of toasted oak and ginger, along with notes of raisin, vanilla, and cinnamon on the nose, the palate is bursting with decadent flavors of orange, vanilla, and ginger, mingling with clove and toasted oak, all leading to an elegant finish filled with orange zest, ginger and dried fruit.

The Macallan 18 Year Old Sherry Oak Single Malt Scotch Whisky received a rating of 92 points from Wine Enthusiast, which called it, “Balanced and complex.”

Situated on a ridge above the banks of the River Spey, the Easter Elchies House has been the spiritual home of The Macallan for over three centuries. In 1820, Alexander Reid sowed the fields surrounding the rented home with barley and established the first licensed distillery on the estate, which he named Macallan after an ancient church that had been destroyed by fire during the 15th century. In the slow winter days, Reid would ferment and distill his excess grains into whisky, which was often drunk straight from the still or sold to travelers passing through the town.

Today, the Macallan Estate encompasses 370 acres, 95 of which are devoted to the production of the Macallan Estate’s Minstrel barley (a single acre produces about 2.5 tons of barley each year, enough to yield 1,800 bottles of The Macallan). In addition, the distillery contracts with farmers to purchase barley that is low in nitrogen and high in starch, resulting in a rich and oily whisky.

After the harvest, the barley is malted and mashed in one of The Macallan’s two mash tuns, a process that takes between four and eight hours. Then, the barley is fermented with a specially cultured yeast before being distilled twice through The Macallan’s copper-pot stills. The copper comprising the stills acts as a catalyst and enhances the formation of sweet esters while minimizing impurities such as sulfur. In addition, the curiously small stills — some of “the smallest stills within the Scotch whisky industry,” according to production manager Alexander Tweedie — produce a whisky with a heavy, oily flavor.

Following distillation, The Macallan distillers remove the heads and tails of the whisky and collect approximately 16% of the spirit to fill into casks for maturation. This “cut,” which is among the highest of any Scottish distillery, results in a more full-bodied and richer whisky.

The Macallan 18 Year Old Sherry Oak Single Malt Scotch Whisky is aged for nearly two decades in a combination of sherry-seasoned Spanish oak and sherry-seasoned American oak casks. The Macallan takes great care to source, craft, season and care for these casks, as they account for approximately 60% of the final aromas and flavors of the whisky, according to a study commissioned by the distillery.

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